Check out the install photos for a full review of each of these BMR components. Although some of the items we selected could technically be considered a compromise between street and race needs, that assessment would only be from the perspective of the most extreme race enthusiast (who may have, for example, chosen rod-ended LCAs over bushed ones for his 8-second Z28). Indeed, the beauty of these parts is how well they work in a variety of applications, and this holds true whether we're talking about drag racing, road racing, autocrossing, or just spirited driving on the way home from a hard day at work. While our set of parts represents what we feel offers the best overall performance improvement for our application, we should also note that BMR offers pre-selected "packages" of its own, catering to those in search of vehicle weight savings, high-g handling, or the ultimate in traction at the drags. See the company Web site (www.bmrfabrication.com) for more information.
Driving Impressions
You'll be pleased to hear that not only do our new BMR parts look sweet hanging under the Trans Am, they have also significantly improved its on-road performance as well. One of the most substantial and immediately noticeable differences is that the car is more composed over road irregularities, like potholes or railroad crossings. This is surely a result of the improved chassis rigidity provided by the BMR subframe connectors, but it's likely just as attributable to our stiffer suspension parts and poly bushings (good riddance, sloppy factory rubber!). Best of all, ride quality has not suffered, which is exactly what we had in mind when we decided to leave our factory springs and shocks alone. Only the occasional one-sided hard hit to the tires causes perhaps a bit more of a jounce than before, and that is likely due to the stiffer antiroll bars transferring more motion to the opposite side of the vehicle.
All in all, the best description is probably that the car is much more taut than it was before, making it feel like a more expensive and refined vehicle. And it still retains excellent ground clearance and ride quality-features that probably would have suffered had we decided to replace more of our factory suspension hardware. We'd probably need a full alignment to make best use of our improved vehicle dynamics, but for now, we're happy with the street and autocross results, and future drag testing should show reduced on-launch wheelhop, too.
We hope we've shown that with some careful parts selection (and a moderate investment of a little more than $1,200), you can improve F-car vehicle dynamics of all types, without compromising daily streetability. "Wolde ye bothe eate your cake, and haue your cake?" In this case, we can answer in the affirmative.
 Under the front of the car,...  Under the front of the car, we note an all-stock WS-6 suspension. Again, we're leaving the shocks, A-arms, and springs alone, and just going with the antiroll bar to help reduce body roll. First, the end links must be disconnected. Spray a liberal amount of penetrant on the threads, and start taking them out with a 13mm socket on the bolt head and a wrench of the same size on the nut above. They will fight you every inch of the way, and don't be surprised if the bolts break. New hardware is included, so do your worst! |  Now disconnect the U-shaped...  Now disconnect the U-shaped mounting brackets holding the bushings in place. Two 13mm bolts will do it on the passenger side, but the driver side has a bracket in the way that will need to be removed via two 10mm bolts behind the plastic wheelwell shielding, as well as one 13mm nut atop the forward mounting bolt. The mounting bolts come out, and after swinging the rubber alternator splash shield away (temporarily), so does the antiroll bar. |  The new BMR antiroll bar appears...  The new BMR antiroll bar appears outwardly similar, as it is of identical diameter to the stock WS-6 bar (32mm), so there is little point in printing a comparison photo. The added torsional stiffness comes from its solid construction (the stock one is hollow). However, the difference in the mounting bushings and end links is more visually apparent. Polyurethane is all about precise motion control, and the end links' bushings help transfer it more effectively to the bar. As with the poly mounting bushings, they're also much more durable than stock, and won't degrade over time. |